Pure (Book 1, Pure Series)

by Mesick, Catherine

  "How did she find him?" I asked.

  "The kost has the power to create a field of supernatural 'static.' It befuddles the senses of most supernatural creatures who would fight him, or that he himself would wish to feed upon. Nadya had the ability to see this static and not be affected by it – she described it as twisting smoke. She could follow the trail of smoke to wherever he was, and he knew that, so he took great care to conceal himself during the day when he was weakest. The smoke also dissipates after a few days."

  "I have seen the smoke myself," I said.

  Galina looked pleased. "That is an encouraging sign."

  "So, my mother went out to confront Gleb?"

  "Yes. Though I did not witness it, I knew what her plan was – she would drive him into his family's crypt using the clear fire. Then she would shut the door and seal it – wedging the lesser dark spirits into all the tiny cracks and crevices with the clear fire, binding the crypt closed with the power of their own evil. When she recovered from her illness, she planned to unseal the crypt and drive the spirit out of the kost completely.

  "I found her here in the Woods the next morning. Her illness was far worse – she was delirious. I took her home. She only lasted a few more days."

  "Then my mother died of a fever," I said.

  "No," Galina said sharply. "Gleb killed her. He poisoned her. Nadya's illness was not a natural one. It didn't look like poisoning because of her unusual strength – her Sídh lineage gave her a powerful constitution, but not immortality. I think it was arsenic that he used – the symptoms were similar though much protracted. I do not know how Gleb administered it, but he had labs amongst his holdings and access to all kinds of chemicals. I'm sure he could have gotten a hold of any poison he wished to use.

  "So, Nadya locked Gleb up and never got the chance to come back and drive the spirit out completely." Galina shook her head. "And he would have remained locked up if someone hadn't interfered. The seal on the crypt was powerful – I examined it myself. Whoever broke it used supernatural means. I suspect Gleb's son must have made a dark deal to gain the release of his father. And now he is after you – in revenge for Gleb's imprisonment, and his own loss of position. Once Gleb disappeared, the government confiscated the mansion and all Gleb's assets. Somehow the son has been buying everything back. I wouldn't be surprised to discover that he had used the occult to do it."

  "Is Gleb rational then? If he can plot against people?"

  "Not in the ordinary way. And he can be controlled by someone who knows how. The kost loses the spirit of the host – but his strong emotions will remain. And the desire to seek revenge would please the kost. Such a creature lives only to kill. It was Gleb's mistake to think he could contain an ancient evil within himself."

  And this was the creature I had to stop – on my own, using a mysterious ball of light. "Where is the clear fire hidden?"

  "I believe it is here in the Pure Woods, but I do not know that for certain. Come this way. I will show you where I found your poor dear mother."

  Galina led me to a small, round clearing that was ringed by jagged gray stones. "Your mother came here when she knew her strength was failing. It is a significant spot. Your mother was standing within that stone ring when she was first able to summon the clear fire. It is possible she has hidden it here."

  I stepped into the ring and looked around. "Where would it be hidden exactly?"

  Galina shook her head. "That I cannot tell you. It is beyond my knowledge. Only you have the power to sense the clear fire."

  I stood very still and tried to sense something powerful in my vicinity. I didn't feel anything.

  I stepped out of the ring. "Is there any other place it could be hidden?"

  "Unfortunately, yes. It could be anywhere in these woods. And then there is the monastery you saw from the road. There are tunnels that run underground from the Mstislav mansion all the way to the monastery. It is my belief that when Nadya left Gleb in the crypt that she took those tunnels and then came into the Woods. I doubt she would have hidden the clear fire in the mansion, but she could have hidden it in the monastery or the tunnels. But I do believe that this ring is the most likely place."

  "So, how do we start?" I asked.

  Galina gave me an earnest look. "Are you sure you want to do this?"

  "I thought you wanted me to. After all, you came all the way to the United States to get me."

  "Yes," Galina said. "But it was all theoretical then. Now that I have seen you and spoken to you, I wish you did not have to do this. You remind me so much of poor dear Nadya. I don't want to lose her all over again."

  "I want to do this," I said.

  "Then I will do my best to help and protect you, my child."

  "I don't have any special powers, though."

  "No visions?" Galina asked.

  "I have had visions," I said. "But they began only about a week ago. Before that I had a strange calling – a tug out into the night. But that stopped shortly after the visions began."

  Galina was thoughtful. "You have more human stock in you than your mother did. It is possible that you are not as strong as she was. Something must have triggered your visions and called out your latent abilities. What have you seen in your visions?"

  I hesitated. I hadn't told her about William earlier for a reason. I was worried about him – I was fearful that Gleb had hurt or killed him and fearful of what Galina might think of him. I had heard so much talk of dark creatures lately, and he himself had refused to tell me what he truly was. What if Galina thought he was evil? What if she said I had to destroy him if he had survived? I knew I could never do that.

  I decided it was better to know what Galina thought. And then I would protect him from her if I had to.

  "In my visions, I have seen only one person. At first it was only his face."

  Galina's eyes lit up. "Ah. A face."

  "And then he became real. The person I saw in my visions came to me in the flesh. His name is William. He first told me what a kost was. I think he was tracking it."

  Galina nodded. "He must have been near you before you knew it. His presence must have triggered the visions."

  I reached around my neck and pulled out the cross. "He gave me this."

  Galina touched the charm. "Cool iron. Your William knows what he is doing. Iron scrambles a kost's senses – it makes it difficult for him to track you. It is the same for many ancient creatures of evil -- iron can affect them profoundly."

  Galina sighed. "But despite this, Gleb will still find you. He can use his eyes as well as any ordinary man, and he knows you are likely to come here."

  "I'm worried about William," I blurted out. "When we saw Gleb – William was the one who saved us. He held the creature off so we could get out."

  Galina gave me a reassuring smile. "If he knew to bring you the iron, and if he was tracking the kost, then he knows what he is doing. He will be all right."

  "Could William be evil himself?" I had to know what she thought of him. I had a sudden fear that she might work against him without telling me. "He told me I wouldn't believe what he was. And GM told me my mother had visions of Gleb. I know William isn't Gleb, but what if he is something like him?"

  Galina laid a hand on my arm. "Your mother did have visions of Gleb, but her very first visions were different – she herself did not understand their significance until later. Her first visions were of your father."

  I felt an odd tingle run down my spine when she said the words. But the most important thing was that Galina thought William would be okay. I hoped she was right.

  "I think you have given us a good starting point," Galina said. " Please, step back into the ring."

  I did so.

  "Now concentrate. Think of your William. Try to bring a vision of him to you."

  I thought of William's face, and I tried to see him clearly before me just as I had in the last vision, when I'd seen him standing beside me.

  I stood for a long time, concentratin
g and willing his image to appear. Eventually, I had to shake my head. Nothing was coming to me.

  "Perhaps this is too much pressure on you all at once," Galina said. She thought for a moment. "Do you know your way back to my house from here?"

  "Yes," I said. "I have a good sense of direction."

  "Good," Galina replied. "What I propose is this: I will go back to the house, leaving you here to meditate and let your thoughts flow. You may, of course, walk around as you wish and explore."

  Galina pointed. "The monastery is that way. So, that is a place you may wish to look at. The tunnels to the Mstislav mansion are behind the altar in the chapel. You may wish to explore those, too. You should go anywhere your intuition leads you. If you haven't returned to the house in two hours, I will come to find you. How does that sound to you?"

  "I think I would like to be alone for a little while," I said. It was true – I did want to be alone with my thoughts.

  Galina smiled. "Then I will go now. I will see you soon, my child. Just remember to relax."

  I watched Galina walk away. When she was lost to my sight, I closed my eyes and decided to let my mind wander where it chose. I thought of William and the clear fire…William and the clear fire…. For just a moment I felt something like a spark light within me. My eyes flew open, and the spark went out.

  I quickly closed my eyes again and tried to will the spark to return.

  Try as I might, I couldn't find the spark again.

  I decided I was trying too hard, and I stepped out of the stone ring. I started to walk, attempting to let my mind drift once more.

  I found that I was walking in the direction of the abandoned monastery. I figured that I might as well go see it. I was curious to have a look at the tunnels.

  As I walked, I hoped for something to jump out at me – something that would prove to me that I could do what I needed to do. I was finding it hard to believe that I had special powers and a non-human grandfather. I couldn't see myself commanding a magic sphere and defeating a horrible creature like Gleb.

  I reached the edge of the woods and came out by the monastery. The building was large and sprawling and parts of it were crumbling. It had clearly been abandoned for some time.

  I wandered around the monastery until I found a way in – an open archway that had apparently once contained a door. Inside, it was dim and dusty, and I passed several long hallways lined with bare cells and empty rooms. I didn't find anything of any greater interest than some moldering cloth and a few nesting birds.

  Luckily, I stumbled upon the chapel. Behind the altar and beneath two faded icons was a square panel. I pushed on it, and the panel fell backwards. I ducked my head inside. The opening was a little wider than my shoulders, and it was a little over two feet high. There was plenty of room for me to wriggle through, and I did so.

  Once on the other side, I was able to stand up with no difficulty. A normal-sized hallway stretched in front of me. It was dark in the tunnel, and I wished that I'd brought one of GM's flashlights. I was going to give up on exploring the tunnel when I happened to spy a table nearby. On the table were several candle stubs with holders and a box of matches.

  The candles and matches gave me pause. They weren't dusty, so presumably they had been used recently. Was this tunnel in regular use? Whether or not someone else was using the tunnel, I decided I might as well use what was available.

  I lit a candle and blew out the match I used. I waited till the match was cool before I set it down. Fortunately, it only took a few seconds. I didn't want to start a fire.

  I started forward into the tunnel, glancing back at the open panel through which I had come. It occurred to me that as easy as it had been to wriggle through it, I would hate to have to scramble back out that way if someone were chasing me.

  I shook my head to clear it. There was clearly no one around at the moment. It was silly for me to think anyone would be after me.

  As I moved along the tunnel, it remained the same height, but it soon slanted downward sharply. The candle threw enormous, distorted shadows on the walls as I walked, and my heart began to beat faster. I pictured my mother crawling along this tunnel after she'd sealed Gleb in the crypt, making her way toward the Pure Woods. Walking through the tunnel made it seem real to me – there was a feeling all around me that this tunnel had witnessed horrible things.

  Eventually, I came upon a chamber that split into two tunnels. I hesitated, unsure of which way to go.

  Suddenly, I had the feeling I'd been plagued with before – that I was being watched. I whirled around quickly, and the candle flickered dangerously. I froze. I'd be lost if the candle went out.

  The flame righted itself again, throwing its grotesque shadows on the walls once more. I scanned the darkness around me, but I couldn't find any sign that I was being followed.

  I turned back to the two tunnels and examined the walls around them. But the walls were blank – there were no markings that indicated where the tunnels might lead.

  As I stood before the tunnels, I heard a noise coming from the right one. Was it possible that the clear fire could make a noise? The noise came again – it was hard to identify – it was resonant, yet muffled.

  I hurried into the right-hand tunnel. The tunnel grew wider and wider, and soon I was in another chamber. The walls of the chamber were lined by tall metal bars on either side. I soon realized that the bars were broken up by stretches of wall – the bars seemed to form little rooms. But the rooms were boarded up behind the bars.

  I remembered that I'd once seen a program on TV about a cathedral, and the cathedral had had little barred alcoves that held special monuments for the graves of the more prominent people who were buried there – the bars had been added in modern times. These bars looked just like the ones on the program. I figured that I was looking at the same thing here. I shivered as I realized that I was surrounded by graves. I wondered why someone had gone to the trouble of boarding them up.

  I heard the muffled noise again – it sounded like a smothered cry coming from behind one of the boarded up alcoves.

  I crept closer to the alcove where the sound had come from.

  "Hello?" I said. "Is somebody there?"

  The muffled cry grew louder, and the boards began to shake as if someone were pounding on them from the inside. The shaking boards banged against the iron bars, causing them to rattle.

  I took a step back.

  The cries continued to issue from behind the boards.

  Soon more cries rang out in the chamber, coming from the other alcoves. All around me the bars began to rattle, and the cries grew louder and louder, melding into one fierce howl that swirled around me.

  Something was behind those bars. And it was trying to get out.

  I turned and ran back the way I had come, fearful all the while that whatever was behind the bars would break free.

  In my haste, I dropped the candle, and it flickered out.

  I was still in the chamber, and the howling and rattling seemed to press in on me.

  Something touched my hand, and I cried out, stumbling backward in my terror. I was completely disoriented in the dark, and I put out my hands in front of me. I felt my fingers brush against the cold metal of one of the barred alcoves, and I cried out again.

  "You're safe," a voice whispered in my ear.

  I spun around in the blackness, and I nearly fell down.

  "You're safe," the voice repeated. A warm hand closed around mine and pulled me away.

  My heart leaped. Could this be William? Had he come to rescue me just as he had done in the cave in Elspeth's Grove? I stumbled along after my mysterious savior and prayed that it was William miraculously returned to me.

  After what felt like an eternity of running blind through the darkness, I spied the square of light up ahead that surely marked the panel through which I had entered the tunnels.

  "Out you go," whispered the voice, and the warm hand released mine.

  I wriggled out through th
e opening and tuned to face my rescuer.

  He wriggled through after me and stood up.

  I was startled. "Aleksandr?"

  He gave me a wry smile. "You sound disappointed."

  "No," I said. "No. I'm just surprised. I'm glad you're here. You came along at exactly the right moment."

  I looked at him searchingly. I suddenly felt strangely suspicious. "Why are you here? Did Galina send you to check on me?"

  An odd light crept into his strange, cinnamon eyes. "No. She doesn't know I'm here."

  Something about his tone made me feel uneasy. "Aleksandr, what's going on here? What were those things down in the tunnels?"

  "Katie," he said. "I have to tell you something very difficult, and I don't know if you'll believe me. And if you don't, I'll have to make you believe me. And to do that I'll have to show you something that humans usually find frightening."

  Aleksandr's use of the word 'humans' sent a chill through me. I waited tensely.

  He watched me for a moment. Then he continued. "Katie, Galina can't be trusted. What happened here confirms that to me. I don't want you to see Galina anymore. And if somehow you do see her again accidentally, promise me you won't eat or drink anything she gives you."

  I began to back away from him. "What's going on?"

  Again the odd light was in his eyes. "I can see that you don't believe me. I'm sorry about this, Katie. But it's important for you to stay away from Galina Golovnin."

  I felt panic welling up within me. "Why are you acting this way? Why don't you want me to see your mother?"

  "Well, to begin with," Aleksandr said, "she isn't my mother."

  I watched as Aleksandr's shape shimmered and then changed.

  Suddenly, standing before me was a tall man with bright green hair and a bright green beard. Both hair and beard appeared to be made of grass. His skin was unnaturally pale, and his eyes were a green even brighter than his hair and beard. Where Aleksandr had stood, there now stood a stranger.

  A shiver slid down my spine. "Aleksandr, how did you do that?"

  The man started toward me.

  "I am not Aleksandr."